Albany time elapse

Eleven months ago, I traveled to Albany, NY to sit for the NY bar exam. During my free time I walked around the city with my camera. Two photos in particular shot to the top of my favorite photographs. Albany's downtown district, while small in size, offered a wide range of aesthetically pleasing shots. In preparation of my trip, I utilized the internet to find places where I would like to shoot. The result:

*I apologize for the low resolution. Originals can be found HERE.

Last week, I was fortunate to get another opportunity to visit Albany. This time, to get sworn in to the NY bar. I arrived on Tuesday night and looked through Google Images to find some place in Albany to shoot - where I haven't shot before. As previously noted, Albany's downtown district is small, so I wasn't left with many options. After some online research, I was able to find one perspective of the city that I wanted to shoot.

There are many different areas of photography that I enjoy; however, there is one area that I thoroughly enjoy - time elapse - and this location had my name written all over it. I set out early that day for a tour of the city, doing all those things that tourists do, biding my time for that twilight hour.

The twilight hour (seen in the two pictures above), for those who don't know, is that short window just after the sun sets. The sky turns this beautiful shade of blue. Photographers only have 30-40 minutes to shoot; however, if shooting time elapse photography, that window expands a little longer due to the increase in shutter time.

Sometime around 5pm I noticed the sun starting to set, so I hoofed it to a parking garage situated in close proximity to a heavily traveled highway. The temperatures were in the teens and the winds pushed the temps even lower, but I was determined to grab this shot. The result:

This shot was my last shot of the night. As you can see in the sky, my twilight window was coming to a close. I was fortunate enough to get the shot I wanted, albeit not without a little help from photoshop.

It is obvious from a trained eye that this shot is what you call a High Dynamic Resolution (HDR) Image. My initial desire was not to create an HDR image; however, during the shoot, the cars on the highway did not feel like cooperating. Every shot had one trail of lights missing and I was determined to have all three in my image. The cold weather coupled with the diminishing light forced me to blend several photos into one to create what you see above.

At the end of my trip, I realized that this was the only shot I took that was worth posting... But when thinking about the totality of the circumstances, I am completely content. You can view a larger version of this photo HERE. What do you think? Have some time elapsed photos? I would love to see them.